Singapore to deploy self-driving buses by 2022

Singapore plans to partially equip its public transport system with self-driving buses from 2022. The first is a small-scale test, in which a small number of journeys are carried out with buses that do not involve a human driver.

It concerns the Punggol, Tengah and Jurong Innovation District districts in which self-driving public transport is being tested. As a test, a number of self-driving buses and shuttles are being introduced to transport passengers outside rush hours. That will not happen until 2022, according to the Ministry of Communications and Information.

The government of Singapore is mainly targeting employees who take the bus and use less crowded bus routes. By deploying self-driving buses, Singapore hopes that more capacity can be created on these routes. If the experiment is a success, the lines can be expanded with self-driving buses; the government already has routes in mind for this.

Singapore has been working on self-driving transport for years. The busy city-state is struggling with traffic congestion and the government sees self-driving cars as a solution to the problem. Companies are therefore often allowed to experiment with cars without human control.